Job Interviews: What’s Your Greatest Weakness?

A typical job interview all too often includes those annoying interview questions like “What’s your greatest weakness?” or “What’s your greatest strength?” Odds are some form of the greatest weakness question will be aimed your way as you sit in the interview Q & A hot seat, trying your best not to sweat your greatest weakness answer as much as Albert Brooks sweat in the film Broadcast News.

OK. I admit I also sometimes use the oh-so-annoying greatest weakness question (and others like that) when I do an interview. Not that there’s any one absolutely right answer I’m looking for. Asking about weaknesses in an interview (and the way you answer the question) helps me see how a person will react, even when confronted by the obvious. You can learn a lot about a person as they answer seemingly simple questions.

In fact, I was interviewing someone the other day. After only a few minutes, I knew he was probably going to get a second interview. But it’s my job to dig deeper and also look for things that need to be explored in the next round. In addition, if I pretty much know they’re moving on, I like to give people practice for the next interview. So in this case, I went to some of those standard interview questions, including “What’s your greatest weakness?”

Well, this guy started to answer it without any subterfuge and without the typical “I know this is one of those trick questions” tone of voice. I was pleasantly surprised. (Keeping it as real as possible is always a good idea – although there are times when it’s ok to let the interviewer in on your recognition of an old standard.) But then my interviewee kept going – trying to give me the most thorough and honest answer ever I think – including several examples of how sometimes he gets caught up in the tiny details of a problem…almost to the point of obsessing. I actually got nervous for him. “Don’t tell me too much!” I wanted to coach.

Truth is, he was so sincere and talented he didn’t hurt himself with me by trying so hard to give a thorough answer. But that might not have been the case with all interviewers. So when you get a question like this, just know that it’s ok to stop at the summary of the weakness like “I can get caught up in the details sometimes.” But then your follow-up should be something like you are aware of this and have been learning how to balance being thorough with the other things you have to get done. And have a great real life story from one of your jobs to back up whichever weakness you choose to answer this interview question!

Whatever you do, it’s probably best to keep your answer to this one fairly short. There are some interview questions where it’s good to expand your answerso you can throw in cool stuff about yourself. This is usually not one of those questions – unless, as I mentioned, you have a good story to tell about how you overcame your great weakness…or at least have been making progress.

An example would be if you had a fear of public speaking, worked on that fear, and wound up becoming a lecturer on some topic. Now that’s something an interviewer would like to hear. (Uh…please don’t use this story unless it’s real. Stuff like that can come back to bite you.) But if your story isn’t that strong, probably best to keep it short and sweet when answering the weakness question.

Let’s be honest. Most people just throw in these questions to fill out the interview anyway. You get a good idea within the first few minutes of interviewing a person whether this is someone you want to seriously consider. I doubt any interviewer is really looking to get you to reveal some deep dark weakness like “I steal office supplies” or “I’ve lied all over my resume and hope you don’t find out.” DOH!

But even if you make a great first impression, you can still trip yourself up with a bad answer. While there is no one right way to answer this interview question, it helps to come prepared with something good based on who you really are (some employers are serious about the question and want to see how self-aware you are). And make sure your tale of weakness has a natural positive spin – like the ones above or any good example from real life about how you turned some weakness around.

So to summarize my greatest weakness interview question tips: Keep it short, leave with a positive thought, and then just shut up until you get the next question. If the interviewer pushes the question, try your best to specifically answer what was asked (shows you’re listening) but again keep it short and stay as positive as possible.

Oh…and in case you’re wondering, the guy I interviewed has super skills and gave a good second interview, so he’s moving on to the final interview. But in the interim, an anonymous someone clued him in about how to answer the dreaded weakness interview question – just in case. Shhh! Don’t tell anyone.

Ronnie Ann, founder of Work Coach Cafe, bases her real-world advice on her many years as an organizational consultant where she helped interview and hire people, added to a certificate from NYU in Career Planning & Development and her own adventures as a serial job seeker. She can also be found on her new blog, Career Nook and on Google+.

Comments

I’m not sure what else I can say other than what is already in my post. Just remember whatever you mention, to turn it into a strength by telling how you overcame it or how you did something to make up for it that shows them what a good employee you would be.

Also, just make sure you take it seriously and don’t joke around with them, ok? Maybe you are pulling my leg just a little?

Hi Ronnie, The articles are great and true help for anyone facing demons in searching for a job or preparing for an interview. To address weaknesses I believe we have to go back to our own life experiences and take out one thing we always believed was lacking and what one did to resolve that problem. That’s the approach which helped me identify my own and take measures to improve that part. Googling for weakness answers which are typical will never help a candidate stand out from the crowd.

Secondly, I just completed my third and final interview with a Company’s VP and she commended me on clarity of thought and also said they will make it a tough decision for me to join another company when I told her about joining an organization early next week. I know these are good signs but just wanted your opinion about the chances. its a great job full of challenges. In my 2nd interview with the director the interviewer also said something on the lines “I believe you are a good fit”.

An answer I heard a long time ago that I use on that question in almost EVERY interview is, “I don’t consider myself to have weaknesses, but instead areas to improve on…I’d have to say…probably that I’m a perfectionist. I am very hard on myself when it comes to doing a good job. However, while I do try very hard to work on accepting my own faults, it can also be a good thing because not only does it push me to do better, but I also set my goals pretty high. So, if I aim for 110% and comeout only getting 100% done, I’ve still done a great job.” Interviewers always smile and recognize my intellect, and I get the job.

hello my names cat I have an interview and im absooulutely horrific at them and i know people get nervous but im beyond this because i have anxiety so when i stress i tend to have panic attacks and im really worried about going there and having one because i would really die for this job like i really want it and i have no idea wot to say in interviews or anything like whats your weakness oh i have panic attacks when i get stressed…no and i dont have anything to say because i have alot of weaknesses like i need to constantly be munching on food lol or i talk to much, i harass everyone at work to talk to me and get in trouble, im easily distracted, i type with only 3 fingers, i need to work on my punctuation, i talk to fast, and iknow i cant say any of these!!!!!!!!! wot am i to do!!!!!!!!!!! lol please help

I apologize Catherine. I get a lot of spam and the way you wrote your comment and presented yourself made me think you were playing with me.

Clearly you have a lot of weaknesses that you don’t want to bring up in an interview! The good news is you are aware of many of your work weaknesses and need to work on them ON YOUR OWN. You won’t ever be able to do any job well or get ahead until you realize you have the power yourself to get past those small quirks and be more professional in the workplace.

And of course, I offer some ideas right on this post about how to answer the weakness question. The trick is mentioning a not-too-bad weakness and then telling them how you are working on correcting it! Let them know you think it’s important to work on weaknesses and are making it your personal goal to face any weakness head on. No one is perfect, Cat, but if we act powerless to our weaknesses, we wind up being trapped by them!

The main thing is to take yourself and your STRENGTHS seriously enough to go into that interview presenting your very best to the employer. And then if you are lucky enough to get the job, work on your weaknesses one by one. Please know you CAN do that. And if you know it now in your heart, then you can go into the interview and handle whatever they ask.

Hey. Your explanation is very descriptive and helpful. I was just wondering if you would recommend me answering the question as below.

I would say that my weakness is that I’m usually shy and it’s almost impossible to get me to open up. I’m usually the girl in the corner refusing to talk to anyone. Then I discovered my passion for debating. I realized that I could convey my ideas I just didn’t dare to. Now I’m still shy and a little introverted but when asked to speak I do not shy away.

My greatest weakness? I get impatient when I see people not working to their full potential. My greatest strength? My willingness to be flexible and follow through on the assignments given to me, to the best of my ability.

The weakness one is good too because it’s real and not one of those bogus “gee I work too hard sometimes” answers. And if you want to make it even stronger, maybe add something about how you’ve learned to work with it. Weakness answers are best if they have the actual weakness part plus our “redemption.”

Best of all is to show you learned how to turn it into a strength now – or at least a weakness you are aware of and have learned to handle so it doesn’t get in the way of your performance and work relationships.

Thanks for all your comments. Your experiences and advice add a lot. Best of luck!

Most people come up with the standard answer along the lines of being too dedicated or being a perfectionist. This can backfire as it may be a polar opposite of the culture of the company. It really is best to speak from the heart. Sometimes you get a candidate with a real off the wall response- as weird as they can be- I would rather have the truth than hire someone that ends up not fitting well because they were not genuine in the interview.

I say my weakness is I’m slightly shy and introverted. I’m not the type of guy that would dance in a club or take part in a karaoke for example.

I can turn being introverted “weakness” in to a positive. I have been told I’m a good problem solver. I pause, think and stay calm, not getting worked up when something is wrong. When I have thought it through, I then get to the task. Whereas extroverted people can loose patience and either jump straight in and get it wrong or panic.

I do not word it like that in interviews, or talk about others, but I hope you get the general idea.

That’s a great way of handling the question. It feels real for you and at the same time shows how you turn it into a strength. Just one little thing…be careful about how you phrase the extroverted part of your answer. Your interviewer may be an extrovert. But your manner of handling things adds a lot to any team.

I have a job interview coming up and I’m a bit nervous. I recently got fired from my previous job and I’m not sure how to handle the interview from that perspective. The question, “Why were you fired?” is what frightens me. I don’t want this potential employer to think I am not reliable. The reason is nothing based on performance or anything shaddy. What to do?

Thanks for sharing that, Sara.
Both “emotional” and “quick to judge” might come back to bite you.

One way to handle that, in the example of “quick to judge” for instance, is to say that you have found times when you have been quick to judge, but this is something you’re working on since you know a lot can be learned by giving a person time to explain and giving yourself a chance to learn more before making any judgments. Then you can smile and say something like…not that I sometimes don’t still find myself doing it. But I try. (Helps make you seem real.)

Or something like that. Shows you don’t just accept your weaknesses, but make an effort to work on them. Good luck!

About curiosity…intellectual curiosity is a strength. Just asking questions to bug people or be nosy is one thing, but in business, being curious enough to seek out solutions to problems or come up with new ways of doing this is a huge plus.

Here is a link with some tips that hopefully will help with your nerves. Please read this article and some of the other ones I mention. Then breathe deeply (in AND out) and practice, practice, practice.

The number of formal interviews can vary. Different companies have different methods, and often the larger ones have a longer process. When I graduated grad school, one company called me in for 4 interviews and still had more for me to go. It was grueling. It was just how they did it. (I took a different job anyway, but not for that reason.)

Some try to get a bunch done in one day and then stop at that, but often even then they’ll call you back for at least one more. Where I worked last we did a phone interview and at least 2 in-person interviews – but maybe more if one or more of the big bosses wanted to meet them or if we wanted to see how they interacted with some of their peers. I was often the phone interviewer and the first person they met.

As much as the hiring process means to the job seeker, it is also a really big deal to the company. Hiring the wrong person can cost a lot of time and money. So some try to build in extra steps to get it right. But understandably that can make a job seeker nuts! All you can do is go with the flow and do your best.

I have an interview tomorrow (Monday) and I’m really nervous because I haven’t prepared enough and I feel like I’m procrastinating now. I want to say that my weakness is that I get caught up in the details, but I’m not sure exactly how to back it up without hurting myself in the process.

The truth is that I did get caught up in the details in my last internship last summer, and I discontinued my internship due to my course schedule conflicts. I only worked for 2 weeks and I did not even mention it in my resume, but i did work 40 hours at the company so I think it was sort of significant. I was assigned to reconcile two spreadsheets and match the sales numbers using some excel formulas. I found the task very frustrating because I spent the entire two weeks doing this and kept failing to completely match it. I did, however, make progress as I was finding new mismatches and was able to discover some reasons why this may have been happening (this could be my positive spin). But ultimately, I was so frustrated that I decided not to go anymore.

Now, I want to say in my next interview that my weakness is getting caught up with small details and sometimes it’s frustrating to not completely understand the bigger picture. But how do i give it a positive spin while mentioning this experience? And should I even talk about an experience that I didn’t find important enough to put on my resume? By the way, this is a second round interview at an accounting firm.

The positive spin is what you learned from the experience. Maybe you learned that you don’t need to be perfect – that no one is perfect – and it’s OK to ask for help understanding the “big picture” when you are up to your eyeballs in the details. Maybe you learned that Excel formulas can be quirky in very large spreadsheets so you’ve done some studying about Excel (if you have) – about how it treats formulas or that a newer version of Excel doesn’t have the same problem. Demonstrate your problem-solving skills as the positive from this situation demonstrating a weakness.

Given that you are interviewing with an accounting firm – getting caught up in details is probably a good “weakness” to have. Focus on the positive spin. Two Job-Hunt articles can probably help you here:

You have learned something from this experience, and that is your positive spin! Just keep it brief as Laura suggests and remember how employers hear (and interpret what they hear) as Harry recommends.

Thank you so much for your quick response Susan. Those two articles greatly helped me and I think I now will be more willing to share and emphasize what I’ve learned from that project and how I should ask clarification questions before jumping straight into the project.

I always freeze up when they ask me for my 3 strengths and 3 weaknesses. I’m not the greatest al selling myself. I’m a 19 year old Nurse so the job market is tough to get into anyway and the fact that I have only had one job before graduating Nursing school and that was in a resturant makes professional interviews really hard for me. In fact I have another interview in about an hour and a half and this article really boosted my confidence. Thank you

The best way to become unfrozen is to sit down, away from the stress of an interview and write down your 3 strengths and 3 weaknesses, following Ronnie Ann’s advice in this post and the other comments. Writing them down may feel silly, but it will help you think them through, in complete sentences, and make them easier to remember.

Then, practice saying them. Pretend someone has asked you the question, and say your answer. You may be reading the answer the first few times, but gradually you’ll get used to them, and you’ll know what you are going to say next.

As Ronnie Ann advises above, don’t go into too much detail about your weaknesses. And, most of the time you will only need to list one of them. But having more ready is a good idea, just in case you get asked for 3 of them.

The more often you go through the job interview process, the better you will get at it. So, don’t be discouraged. Don’t expect to be perfect at the beginning. Just know that you will get better at it with more experience.

To help with your experience gap, you might want to volunteer at a hospital, helping direct visitors to the appropriate section of the hospital or taking flowers to rooms or something similar. It will get you more comfortable in hospitals, and it will also help you make some contacts, too. Volunteering can be good for your job search, your resume, and your confidence. If you are in a big city where there might be a Veterans Administration hospital, that might be a good place to start.

I have an interview tomorrow that I’m not very prepared for. I went over a few different things I could say as my “greatest weakness”, but I’m still unsure of which to say. I’m thinking of saying that I’m not assertive enough or that I tend to get disorganized easily, but I’m not sure that I’ve done enough in trying to change and improve those things about myself. Help?

I don’t know your background or history but one way to answer that question is to say that you tend to focus on doing a job when you are hired — and that you feel one weakness is that you aren’t as strong an interviewer as you are in a job. Another way — which may play naturally is to say that you are very good at following directions but that sometimes you aren’t as assertive as you could be in speaking up when you have a question.

As I don’t know you, I can’t answer what your weakness is. Be genuine, state a weakness that you have recognized in your past — and how you have remedied it. If you can’t think of anything, ask your friends and family — who know you best — to help you think about it.

i have an interview had 2 in the last 8 weeks and no luck my cv is good and my interview skills are just plain awful i got asked my weakness before and froze its easy to get strenths i studied all day and came up with (im very head strong) that i try to get one picticular job done right and on time besides moving on to other jobs any good examples i can use are a weakness?? really need help? thanks

I have job interview coming up at a web firm and want to be as prepared as possible. My biggest weakness is that I used to be quite introverted and shied away from contact with strangers.

But my previous workplaces had me in close contact with customers, first by phone, but later at face to face client meetings and I do feel I have gained more extrovert characteristics. I have also worked with it on a personal level, so I feel I have the best of both worlds now: the focus and drive of the introvert and the easy-going peopleskills of the extrovert.

That’s a nice answer. If you want additional information on how to present the introverted/extroverted situation in interviews, Google “interviewing for introverts” or “job search tips” and introverts — you’ll find a wealth of strategies and information.

Remember the difference between introverts and extroverts isn’t about liking to socialize or not. It’s about where you get your energy: Extroverts get energy from interaction with others. Introverts get energy recharging through internal activities or solitary ones. This means introverts are often more likely to be able to initiate and get projects done independently at work…Not a bad thing!

Hey
Thanks for an useful article.
just want to ask if telling a joke is appropriate on the interview. Let’s say in context of the greatest weakness I would say: When I was a child I was too high-headed…but I have no weakness anymore.
And then I’ll say that that’s my biggest weakness – to make jokes in a wrong time.
Thank you.

Hi, very nice article!
I was wondering if this weakness is acceptable as I know it is appropriate for me. I think that I plan too much. I want everything to go smoothly so I spend my time planning everything out which could potentially be a problem when (like most times) things don’t necessarily go as planned. I also have an example about a time when something did not go as planned and how I managed to turn it around without stressing too much. Good or bad?
Thanks in advance!

That sounds like a genuine and authentic answer to the question. Make sure you tell a story of an example of how you adapt to a changing situation, too — as you want the employer to see you are flexible.

I’m preparing for an interview, and was wondering if I could state as my weakness the fact that I can’t follow a day to day timetable, so I start any preparation a little in advance and make a weekly time table which offers me more flexibility and more satisfaction at the end of the day.

I don’t know that I would recommend that answer as many jobs require you to be flexible with your daily schedule, though it sounds as though you do know how to plan for this. What might work better for you to say is that you find that some work projects take you longer than others — and that you allow time to take care of all of this through planning your weeks out in advance.

As I don’t know you, I can’t give you an answer as to what the best answer to the question is. Recommend you get help from friends or former co-workers who can help you. Just make sure your answer includes a weakness — and how you approach it so it is not a problem for you on the job. No one likes to hear “my weakness is that I oversleep everyday.”

Hi…! I have an interview tommorow in micro finance company in the post of telller…but im not well prepare for it….if they ask me tell about my weakness..then i would answer”i focused on the task and work hard to do it but didn’t get better result at the end” is this anwer would be better to tell them…
plz guide me to answer

Kumar,
You may not be asked a weakness question at all — it just depends. It’s hard to tell you what your weakness is when I don’t know you. Bu if you are applying for a job of teller — it’s better to have a weakness that doesn’t involve math or communication skills. So you might, for example say “I don’t write as well as I would like too as the jobs I have done in the past are primarily customer-focused. I have okay writing skills, but I have a long-term goal of improving them.” Good luck!
Chandlee

Hello Ronnie
First of all , I would really like to thank you for coming to our rescue especially with these dreaded questions…:)
I would appreciate if you help me out with 2 possible worries of mine
1.I was working in a BPO as a process associate but left the job as i wanted a career in finance…currently doing my MBA and wanting to join a new company…how should I address this to my new prospective employer?
2.Coming to weakness,i can actually name 3 of them but i wonder if it goes against the role of an analyst…They are (a) Sometimes even if I know the answer,i dont speak out fearing it mite be incorrect (b) lil less assertive (c)inability to say no to people which does increase my workload,but thankfully i do work well under pressure
Thanks once again

1. Recommend you work with the career services office of the school where you are doing your MBA. They can help you position for a new opportunity and market your skills and education for a new job.

2. A good way to answer the weakness question is to make sure you answer it with a genuine area you could get better at — but to follow-up with an example that shows how you are improving in that area.

Hi my name is Wilber I bearly just got out of high school, and graduated from Hamilton high. And now originally attempting Santamonica. I have an Interview on Tuesday and I’m nervous I’m not sure what should i take, I have no experience in interviews please help

Read the article, and then put to gether a list of your accomplishments. Maybe you earned badges as a boy scout or were recognized for excellent attendance in school. Perhaps you helped someone solve a problem. Think about what people have praised you for, and make a list of those things to help.

Research the employer so you know who they are and what they do (check the website).

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